Category Archives: Monster Comics

Classic Monster Comics – Charlton Comics GORGO #1

GORGO, No. 1 (Charlton Comics, 1960)

Spewed up from the bottomless depths by a volcanic eruption that reached back 2,000,000 years in time to give the world one horrifying glimpse of a species we had thought extinct. Gorgo came forth, a thing of terror with mastic jaws, awesome fangs capable of crunching ships or tanks…as a dog does with a bone! Gorgo’s incredible strength was to paralyze the greatest city on earth..rout the mighty British Navy..and teach man once more that his own greed is his most terrible danger..and if unchecked could someday destroy him!

Gorgo #1 is a straight-froward adaptation of the 1960 MGM film of the same name and features the incredible artwork of Steve Ditko, the co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange among others and one of the most influential comic book artists of all time.

The press book for the movie which was sent to theater owners reads;

“Magazine wholesalers will distribute this comic book movie edition across the country timed to the release of Gorgo. For extra profits arrange for its sale in your theater lobby at least ten days in advance of play date, and, of course, during the run of the film itself. Set off a prominent corner of the lobby for a table on which to display the books. In addition, contact local retail outlets for windows, store counter and newsstand displays, tie-in ads and other promotions. Do not overlook the magazine racks in drugstores and bookshops. These books suggest an outlet not usually seen – the book pages of your local paper. Run a small ad announcing your play date, tied in with the local distributor of the Gorgo publications”

Pretty impressive promotion plan for a comic book based on a movie!

Here, in its entirety, is Charlton’s Gorgo #1! As always, click on the individual page to see a larger, more readable, scan :

Collector Value:

Charlton Comics was not known for it’s high production values and, as a result, finding high grade copies of any of their early 1960s comics is not easy. As a result, this is not an inexpensive comic. While Gorgo doesn’t hold the lasting popularity of that other Japanese giant amphibious reptile from the deep, the beautiful artwork by Ditko makes this a highly collectible comic. Current price guide values list Near Mint copies of this comic at $200, though lower grade issues range more in the $45-$75 range. All in all, not bad for a .10 cover.

At the time of this writing, there are no current auctions on eBay of Gorgo #1 though multiple copies of later Ditko- drawn issues are available.

For the complete Ditko run on this title, I recommend the highly informative and beautiful collection by Yoe Books titled Ditko Monsters: Gorgo! released in 2013 but still available on Amazon:Share your thoughts with us below. Anyone have this book or remember it from your childhood?

Check Out This Halloween ComicFest T-Shirt!

If you’re like me (and you probably are since you’re reading this website), Halloween is your favorite holiday! That’s why it’s never too to start planning your next Halloween activities. For the past six years, Diamond Comics Distributors has organized Halloween Comicfest as an October counterpart to their hugely popular Free Comic Book Day that occurs every May. That’s right, participating local comic shops across North America celebrate the Halloween season by giving away free comics, most with Halloween themes.

What’s even cooler, you can order packs of these mini-comics to give away to trick or treaters who come to your door. Now that’s sure to keep the pranksters away! These cool trick or treat mini-comics are available for pre-order exclusively from your local comic shop throughout July.

2017 Commemorative T-Shirt for Monster Kids

Eisner Award-winning artist Francesco Francavilla (Afterlife with Archie, Black Beetle) designed this year’s commemorative T-shirt, which is available for pre-order at comic shops throughout July.

Known for his pulp and retro-inspired style, Francavilla’s artwork is unmistakeable and brings to life the iconic classic monsters as they ride off to give comics to trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

“After the FCBD design I did last year, I was very happy to work with Diamond on another project. When asked to work on a design for Halloween ComicFest, my thoughts went straight to the Addams Family. The family friendly horror take on that series was perfect inspiration for this project. Of course, I had to include most of the horror icons like the Monster, the Vampire, the Mummy, the Bridge, and the Werewolf.”

The 2017 commemorative T-shirt is available in black in adult sizes Small to XXL (MSRP: $14.99-$17.99), youth sizes Small to Large (MSRP: $11.99), and Women’s V-Neck in sizes Small to XL (MSRP: $14.99-$17.99). The commemorative HCF T-Shirt, plus the complete listing of the HCF 2017 titles, will be available in the July issue of PREVIEWS in comic shops 6/28.

About Halloween Comicfest

Celebrating its sixth year, Halloween ComicFest is an annual event that takes place the Saturday on or before Halloween each year and is designed to introduce friends and family to the many reasons why comics and comic shops are great! Comic shops are the perfect location to get into the sppoktacular season: from zombies, vampires, monsters, and aliens to costumes and more, comic shops have it all when it comes to Halloween fun!

Major publishers like DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and IDW Publishing put out free comics for fans to enjoy during Halloween. Also available are all-ages mini-comics, perfect to give out to trick-or-treaters or as party favors to inspire the next generation of comics readers! Popular series from past years have included Archie, Pokemon, and Grumpy Cat.

Marvel Classics Comics #20 Frankenstein (Marvel Comics, 1977)

MAN vs MONSTER The Ultimate Classic of Nightmare and Retribution told in the MIGHTY MARVEL MANNER!

Like many kids my age, I owe a debt of gratitude to Marvel for introducing me to classic literature through this series. While the interior art isn’t anything spectacular, the covers always worked their magic and the stories, being the classics they are, did the rest.

At 52 pages, and without ads, these were long comics compared to most.

Stan Lees Presents Marvel Classics Comics Featuring Frankenstein

Freely Adapted from the novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly (Shelley is misspelled throughout this comic)

Written by John Warner

Drawn by Dino Castrillo

Lettered by John Costanza

Colored by Petra Goldberg

I’ve scanned the first 21 pages of my well-read copy for your reading pleasure (click on the each page to open a larger image for reading):

Inside Back Cover:

About Marvel Classics Comics

Between 1976 and 1978, Marvel Comics published a series called Marvel Classics Comics adapting classic literature in the vein of the long-running Classics Illustrated, which had ceased publication in 1971.

I was well immersed in the Marvel Universe by the time this series appeared, but I was also old enough (10 years old in 1976) to be reading some of the classic works of Jules Verne, HG Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs by this time. The fact that Marvel Classics Comics included a lot of classic horror and sci-fi literature in this series drew me in and was my first exposure to many of these novels.

I still have my original copies of these book sin my comic book collection and thought it would be fun to share them with you. While my collection includes such titles as Black Beauty and Moby Dick, my collection is overwhelmingly focused on the more fantastic adaptations, including Dracula, The Time Machine, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and such. I plan to feature them all here in due course.

By the time Marvel published issue #20, adapting Mary Shelley‘s novel Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus in 1977, I was quite familiar with both Universal’s version of the story as well as Marvel’s own version of the monster. So this one surprised me a bit. While I noted the difference in the monster’s appearance on the cover, I was already familiar with the idea that there were different versions, thanks largely to my front-to-back readings of Famous Monsters of Filmland every month. It would be years before I would actually read Mary Shelley’s novel, so I was surprised at how different the story was. The monster could talk! More than that. he actually plotted and tool revenge in a calculated manner — I clearly recall not likely this version of the monster, who I always found one of the most sympathetic of the classic monsters due to Karloff’s magical portrayal.

Collector Value

Current price guide values list Near Mint copies of this comic at $13.50, and copies are readily available. None of the Marvel Classics series has appreciated significantly, in part because it’s not original creative content. Nonetheless, they make a nice addition to any Frankenstein or classic monster collection

In the early 80’s, Fisher-Price re-published several of the Marvel Classics comics as hardcovers and included fully-produced cassette tapes featuring audio recordings of the stories complete with sound effects and music. Intended as “read-along” to accompany the books.

THE CREATURE, No. 1 (Dell Comics, 1963)

Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide lists this as Movie Classic #12-142-302, but “Movie Classic” does NOT appear on cover.
Indicia title is “THE CREATURE, No. 1.”

In 1963 and 64, Dell Comics published a series of comic books featuring the classic Universal Monsters. This was the Dec-Feb 1963 issue, titled Dell Movie Classic #142 “The Creature.” While the other comics in Dell’s Universal Monster series (Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, and The Mummy) were not direct adaptations of the movies, The Creature is a pretty straightforward adaptation of the Jack Arnold classic film.

Vital Stats:

32 story pages

Cover art by Vic Prezio

Interior Pencil/Inks Bob Jenney

Here, in its entirety, is Dell’s The Creature! As always, click on the individual page to see a larger, more readable, scan :

Our thanks to The Horrors Of It All blog for the beautiful interior scans – please be sure to visit this great blog for more Horror Comic history.

Collector Value:

As with almost all other Creech Collectibles, this is not an inexpensive comic. It is by far the most valuable of the Dell ComicsUniversal Monster series. Current price guide values list Near Mint copies of this comic at $225, though lower grade issues range more in the $45-$75 range. All in all, not bad for a .12 cover.

Multiple copies are currently listed on eBay and, of note, a CGC 9.0 copy is listed with a current bid of only $42 with 2 days to go in the auction.

There is a significant difference in value between the 1st and 2nd Printing of this comic, so be sure to find out which edition you are getting. 2nd Prints are pennies on the dollar compared to 1st printings.

Share your thoughts with us below. Anyone have this book or remember it from your childhood?

This Free Promotional Comic is VERY Rare!

For U.S. Godzilla fans in the 1970s, comic books about the King of the Monsters were one of the few collectibles available to us outside of monster magazine covers. While most of us fondly recall Marvel Comics Godzilla series, it was not the first American comic book to feature the King of the Monsters.

In 1976, Godzilla vs Megalon made it’s way to U.S. theaters by way of a distribution company called Cinema Shares International. Movie goers received a free promotional comic book adaptation of the film courtesy of Cinema Shares that is now considered the first U.S. comic book of Godzilla. This four-page, cover-less, newspaper print comic is quite rare and, thus, quite sought after by collectors.

While an adaptation of the film, the comic is pretty crazy and one can only assume the uncredited creative team didn’t have access to an English dub of the film. In the comic, Jet Jaguar is called “Robotman” and Gigan is “Borodan” along with a pretty kooky narration that is pure 70s camp:

The King of the Monsters Rampaged Through The 1970s Marvel Universe

Godzilla King of the Monsters #1 (Marvel Comics Group, February 1977)

Look Out America! The Mightiest Menace of Them All is Coming Your Way!

Written by Doug Moench

Drawn by Herbe Trimpe & Jim Mooney

Lettered by Joe Rosen

Colored by Janice Cohen

About GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS

The Marvel Universe is home to many a strange creature. With names like Grogg, Goom, Grattu and, yes, Fing Fang Foom, giant creatures have long found a home in the same comic book world that Spider-Man, the X-Men and The Avengers call home. It’s only natural, then, that Godzilla, Toho’s King of Monsters, would come to call the Marvel Universe home too.

1977 saw Godzilla in the height of his popularity. The giant radioactive dinosaur that had been born into this world as a terrifying piece of post-World War II, anti-American propaganda in 1954’s Gojira was now a full-fledged superhero. He wrestled across yearly movies – fighting all manner of evil aliens, undersea civilizations and fellow mutant menaces. He befriended the young (appearing in an anti-bullying PSA) and even had time to father a son! There were toys (many, many toys), Christmas-themed singles and, thanks to Marvel Comics, a monthly series that saw the monster journey through space and time in search of adventure.

Godzilla was no stranger to comic books – he had long found a home in black-and-white manga released in Japan and frequently tied to his regular output of films. Godzilla’s first American comic book appearance was four-page promotional comic giveaway for audiences at screenings of Godzilla Vs. Megalon in 1976.

The following year, Marvel Comics licensed the character for what would be a 24-issue series written by Doug Moench (the co-creator of characters such as Moon Knight and DC Comics’ Bane) and illustrated by Herb Trimpe (longtime Hulk illustrator and the first artist to draw Wolverine in a comic book). Marvel licensed Godzilla but did not pony up for the lizard’s film friends or foes – leaving Moench with the freedom (or burden, as the case may be) to create new adventures and enemies for Godzilla to combat over the course of the series.

click on these images for a closer look:

The first issue of Godzilla, King Of The Monsters, a story called “The Coming,” the King of the Monster’s primary pursuer is none other than S.H.E.I.L.D, Marvel’s go-to organization when it comes to keeping world peace and/or capturing rampaging radioactive lizards.

Dum Dum Dugan, Nick Fury’s right-hand man, is personally charged with ridding America of the creature and teams with a group of Japanese scientists to capture the behemoth after he begins his North American tour following an appearance in Alaska. From Alaska to Seattle to San Francisco,

Dugan and his team track Godzilla. Along the way, Godzilla takes in the sights and even has a chance to interact with local heroes – including a rumble with San Fran superhero team The Champions, a ‘70s alliance that included Iceman, Angel, Ghost Rider, Black Widow and more.

In order to give the monster opponents that offered a fair fight, Moench invented a fleet of new monsters (including Yetrigar – the biggest bigfoot of them all!) for Godzilla to rumble with. He and Trimpe also invented the mechanized-monster fighter Red Ronin. The character, a by-product of Stark Technology and enemy to monsters everywhere, is a giant samurai-inspired robot that has, even after Marvel’s Godzilla license expired, continued to pop up in the Marvel Universe – even recently given the alter-ego of a teenage girl.

Halfway through the series, Moench began to find his groove and decided to send Godzilla on even stranger adventures – ejecting the lizard from Earth and sending him to the moon to settle a longstanding feud between two warring alien races and to the west to rumble with cattle-rustlers and cowboys. Godzilla was even shrunk down to the size of a rat thanks to the use of Pym Particles, a material invented by Hank Pym (aka Ant-Man) that can change the size of anything it comes in contact with.

Once shrunk, Godzilla began a multi-issue arc that saw the monster slowly begin to grow back to full-size. Captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Fantastic Four before he had retained his full size, Godzilla was sent back in time to the age of dinosaurs – Marvel’s top scientists surely not considering what possible ramifications could come from the exposure of a radioactive monster to the prehistoric timeline. Obviously Reed Richards wasn’t a Ray Bradbury fan.

As it turns out, Godzilla’s radiation does futz with the time travel technology and instead of being sent to the past, he is sent to the Jack Kirby-created alternate dimension Dinosaur World, home of cross-species BFFs Devil Dinosaur, a giant red T-Rex, and Moon-Boy, a monkey boy with a heart of gold.

Once the Fantastic Four realized their mistake, they plucked Godzilla from Dinosaur World and plopped him back in the middle of New York City. Now at his full-grown size, it was finally time for the King of Monsters to battle Marvel’s premier superhero team – The Avengers. The last two issues of Marvel’s series featured Godzilla in an all-out-rumble with The Avengers and the Fantastic Four and featured appearances from S.H.I.E.L.D., The Daily Bugle (including a showdown between J. Jonah Jameson and Godzilla) and even one final last-minute cameo from Spider-Man. In the end, all it took was a stern talking to by a young boy to send Godzilla on his way – disappearing into the ocean and out of the Marvel Universe forever.

Or was it forever? Despite the fact that Marvel’s license with Toho for Godzilla had ended, Marvel was not willing to let go of the King of Monsters that easily. In 1985, Doctor Demonicus, a monster-loving mad scientist that had first appeared in an early issue of Godzilla, King Of Monsters, made his return in an issue of Iron Man. He even brought along an old friend. In order to skate international copyright laws, Godzilla was never referred to as Godzilla and was given a makeover courtesy of Demonicus. Now with a few horns on his head, a fin along his back and webbed hands, the new and improved “Godzilla” was free to rampage across the Marvel Universe again – without Marvel needing to cut a check to Toho.

This new version of Godzilla only appeared a few times – including once in an issue of The Thing’s solo series in which the monster was, presumably by accident, referred to directly by name. A few years ago, in the first issue of Mighty Avengers, a spin-off series featuring a team of government-sanctioned Avengers, New York City was attacked by a horde of monsters controlled by the Mole Man, an underground-dwelling, monster-loving villain. Among the monsters was Godzilla – without the amphibious adjustments Demonicus had made to his body. This cameo was most likely not an official appearance by the monster – instead just a clever gag from artist Frank Cho.

Marvel found a lot of success in the ‘70s with licensing characters – including series set in the Marvel Universe that featured toy properties Rom the Space Knight and the Micronauts. Unfortunately, the use of these characters in the Marvel Universe means that many stories from Marvel Comics are no longer able to be reprinted – with collections of comics from the ‘70s often skipping over issues that feature characters to which Marvel no longer has a license. Even Shang-Chi, a Marvel mainstay and recent Avenger, has almost no reprint collections available due to the fact that Shang-Chi’s father was established to be Fu Manchu and Marvel no longer has the rights to use the character.

Thankfully, Marvel worked out a deal with Toho last decade and released a black-and-white collection under their Essentials series that collects the full 24-issue run. Essential Godzilla is easily available and highly recommended for both fans of Kaiju and Marvel superheroes. If anything, the collection is worth a purchase alone for the multi-issue arc in which a shrunken Godzilla fights rats, sharks and New York muggers. You just can’t put a price on that kind of entertainment.

About Marvel Premiere #28

In its nearly decade-long run (1972- 1981), Marvel Premiere served as a proving ground for a host of new characters. Iron Fist, Woodgod, Caleb Hammer, and many others made first appearances in Marvel Premiere. Other characters, like the Falcon and Jack of Hearts were featured here in their first solo stories. And yes, Marvel Premiere was also the venue at which Alice Cooper made his first comic book appearance.

Marvel Premiere #28 is a delight for classic monster comics lovers delight as it combined many of the Marvel Monsters into a super-team of sorts – Ghost Rider, Morbius, The Man-Thing and Werewolf by Night all had solo comic titles at the time and since team-ups were all the rage in super hero titles, it only made sense to capitalize on that with a monster team-up and Marvel Premiere was designed to test new concepts. The Legion of Monsters only made one appearance in Marvel Premiere and didn’t spin off into their own title.

in the early 1970s, Marvel had been publishing multiple black-and-white horror anthology monster comics in the magazine format under its Curtis Magazine imprint as a means of bypassing the Comic Code Authority but they had canceled most of those titles by 1975 to focus more on super hero, action and science fiction genres. Following the Marvel Premiere issue, Curtis launched a stand-alond magazine titled Legion of Monsters in an effort to consolidate all their classic monsters comics titles into one magazine. The new line up was more horror-based (Ghost Rider was out; Manphibian and the Living Mummy were in) but unfortunately only one issue was ever published.

About Marvel Premiere #28

In its nearly decade-long run (1972- 1981), Marvel Premiere served as a proving ground for a host of new characters. Iron Fist, Woodgod, Caleb Hammer, and many others made first appearances in Marvel Premiere. Other characters, like the Falcon and Jack of Hearts were featured here in their first solo stories. And yes, Marvel Premiere was also the venue at which Alice Cooper made his first comic book appearance.

Marvel Premiere #28 is a classic monster comics lovers delight as it combined many of the Marvel Monsters into a super-team of sorts – Ghost Rider, Morbius, The Man-Thing and Werewolf by Night all had solo comic titles at the time and since team-ups were all the rage in super hero titles, it only made sense to capitalize on that with a monster team-up and Marvel Premiere was designed to test new concepts. The Legion of Monsters only made one appearance in Marvel Premiere and didn’t spin off into their own title.

in the early 1970s, Marvel had been publishing multiple black-and-white horror anthology monster comics in the magazine format under its Curtis Magazine imprint as a means of bypassing the Comic Code Authority but they had canceled most of those titles by 1975 to focus more on super hero, action and science fiction genres. Following the Marvel Premiere issue, Curtis launched a stand-alond magazine titled Legion of Monsters in an effort to consolidate all their classic monsters comics titles into one magazine. The new line up was more horror-based (Ghost Rider was out; Manphibian and the Living Mummy were in) but unfortunately only one issue was ever published.